Welcome to the Friday Feedback, still working without a buyout after all these years and suitors. Hey, liquidated damages are common, but they’re not for everyone. Yet for some reason, they seem perfectly suited for West Virginia University.
We spent a bit of time in this abbreviated week looking at and talking about Rich Rodriguez’s notable contract extension at Arizona. It has a buyout that doubles if he leaves the Wildcats for WVU.
And Doc Holliday has pretty much the same thing in his contract at Marshall, except his exit fee is a flat, cool $3 million.
I really have to wonder — and I’m looking into it — how many schools are mentioned in multiple buyouts for head coaches? But that’s just one of many thought-provoking items that come from this … I don’t know, is it an ordeal? Is it a saga? Is it a blip?
It is May.
I think we can agree it’s a thing and it’s a thing you really have to actively think about now because clearly there’s potential for something somewhere in this. You have to recognize that. The industry tells more secrets than it keeps, and this is the beauty of open records. (Also: This.)
But this is also a little awkward, too. I’m not advocating a coaching change. I’m not even operating under the assumption one is coming, and that that particular action will trigger a specific reaction. I’m just looking at what’s in front of me and doing what a lot of other people are doing.
Well, isn’t this something?
What I want to get to, though, is probably different. I know why it’s included. I have a feeling Arizona has a feeling, too. I know what it means. I figure there might one day be a legal battle about how the contract is designed to punish Rodriguez for picking WVU.
But I’m not interested in that. I instead wonder if WVU fans are ready to open their minds and treat Rodriguez in a way that might make a reunion possible. And mostly I wonder if hiring Rodriguez, if it ever becomes a possibility, is a good idea. Those are the questions that ought to matter most.
Onto the Feedback. As always, comments appear as posted. In other words, know your surroundings.
I love you, Doug! said:
Great, Mike goes away and Logan Moore gets a scholarship, implicitly making him the favorite to start going into fall camp.
Right?!
(Just trying to manufacture *something* here.)
True story: I, um, succumbed to the rigors of the Vegas trip Monday night into Tuesday morning and had a very vivid dream. I woke up ready to call Dana to do a story about Paul Millard transferring to LSU. Then I had some coffee.
Continue reading…